AUD/USD consolidates gains after renewing monthly highs above 0.7780

• AUD/USD continues to push higher after closing in the green last week.
• US markets will be closed due to Presidents Day.
• US Dollar Index stays in the negative territory below 90.50.

The AUD/USD pair gained nearly 100 pips last week and preserved its bullish momentum on Monday. After touching its highest level in a month at 0.7788, however, the pair seems to have gone into a consolidation phase and was last seen rising 0.3% on the day at 0.7775.

The selling pressure surrounding the greenback and the relatively upbeat market mood helped AUD/USD push higher at the start of the week. 

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which lost nearly 0.7% last week, is currently down 0.08% on a daily basis at 90.35. There won't be any macroeconomic data releases from the US and stock markets will be closed due to Presidents Dat holiday. 

Reflecting the risk-positive market environment, major European equity indexes are up between 0.4% and 1.4% on Monday.

In the early trading hours of the Asian session on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia will publish the minutes of its December meeting.

AUD/USD technical outlook

Assessing the near-term technical outlook of AUD/USD,  "the prospect for a move to 0.7795 has increased and a break of this level would shift the focus to 0.7820," said UOB analysts. "Overall, AUD is expected to trade with an upward bias as long as it does not move below 0.7695 (‘strong support’ was at 0.7660 previously)."

Additional levels to watch for